It’s an unfortunate fact that a number of alarming cases of domestic violence in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts have come to light in recent years.
In this article we will look at 10 of the most disturbing examples, featuring MMA fighters who were in some cases the victim and in others the perpetrator of some truly abhorrent acts of violence behind closed doors.
Josh Grispi
In 2014, a year after being released by the UFC, Josh Grispi was arrested for abusing his wife in what a police officer would later state was the worst case of domestic violence he’d ever seen.
The 24-year-old Grispi had reportedly been abusing his wife Kaitlyn for two years, and had gone as far as to train his pitbull dog to attack her on command.
Grispi was first arrested on August 1st of 2014 and charged with assault and battery after his wife’s mother showed police pictures of her daughter with multiple injuries to her face.
However, only three days later after being released on bail he again beat Kaitlyn and then told his pitbull to attack, leaving her suffering from a concussion, broken wrist and bite marks to her legs.
Afterwards Grispi sent his wife threatening text messages warning her not to talk to the police and claiming he’d enjoy choking her to death.
While behind bars awaiting trial Grispi appeared on the Dr Phil show via phone as his wife unconvincingly attempted to play down the attacks, bizarrely blaming them on their house being haunted.
In 2017 Grispi was finally sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for multiple counts of assault and battery in addition to various firearm, drug and witness intimidation charges.
